Need advice on repairing CK Vader clear coat

[lonerthx]

Long story fairly short.

I was preparing to move at the time I got the helmet, it was perfect when it arrived, but I had to leave it in the box it shipped in for about a month. Unfortunately it seems the paint wasn't fully cured so that the bubble wrap it was surrounded with left the clear coat finish marred with dozens of circular dull spots.

It's since been wrapped in soft cotton sheets and I'm finally taking a trip home and picking it up from my parents house, and would like some advice on what the best course of action is.

Am I right in assuming that only the clear coat should be affected, and that polishing it should work? If so, what to polish it with, tool and product wise?

 

[kell]

Wish I could remember, some one posted a solution to this awhile back, and yes i believe it did involve polishing it a certain way. Hopefully they will see this thread. Good luck.

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Yes, there was a lengthy discussion about this about three years ago IIRC, I think it was Vadermaker who had the solution to this. If you use the search function it might bring something up, I think the problem solved itself after the helmet was unpacked. IIRC it involved heat and a certain degree of humidity. But I could be totally wrong.:unsure

 

[Gigatron]

If it's simple surface marring, you can clear it up with scratch remover for clear coats. Turtle Wax and Maguire's are just 2 companies that make it. Follow the directions and you should be ok. Follow up with an application of high-shine carnuba (sp?) wax (usually made for show cars, but sold at regular autoparts stores).

If it goes further than that, you'll need to sand it down to primer and start over.

-Fred

 

[KevVader]

^Yup...if there is in fact a coat of acrylic clear on it, think of it as a finish on a car. Personally, I would polish with a high quality fine swirl remover (i.e. Optimum Finish Polish, Menzerna Micro Polish) and a power orbital buffer (i.e. Porter Cable 7424XP) to remove the marks. Work the dome one section at a time, and do 3 to 4 passes increasing speed of the buffer with each pass until the marks are gone. Then I would buff with a high quality polymer wax like Zaino Z2...it will gleam!

 

[Rebelscum]

I have done this many times, including this week on my holochess table project I just had painted and found a particle of dust on it in the clear.

I'd recommend going at it in stages, starting with the least aggressive method, then moving to more and more aggressive if each stage isn't doing it in a reasonable amount of time. It's the best policy when you aren't completely sure what you are working with, especially if you don't know how much clear there is between the surface and the color.

Any of the automotive swirl removers are good to use. Just do it by hand and keep after it till you can see you're making progress at a rate you're happy with. If it's working but not fast enough for you, move to a slightly more aggressive material. If I were doing this, I'd be using commercial automotive compound I know works on clear coats and if that didn't do it, I'd sand with 1500 grit sandpaper, wet, then follow up with the compound.

If you go with sandpaper, even 1500 can go through thin clear pretty quickly so you have to be careful.